Chowdary Venigalla RM et al. – In human systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), impaired sensitivity of responder T (Tresp) cells to the suppressive effects of a comparably functional, highly purified natural Treg (nTreg) cell population leads to a defective suppression of T cell proliferation in active SLE. Methods
Study to analyze the phenotype and function of CD4+,CD25high,CD127-/low nTreg cells isolated from the peripheral blood of patients with SLE
CD4+,CD25high,CD127-/low nTreg cells and CD4+,CD25- responder T (Tresp) cells from SLE pts SLE and normal donors were separated by FACS
Cell proliferation was quantified by 3H-thymidine incorporation, and immunophenotyping of the cells was done using FACScan
Results
Comparable percentages of CD4+,CD25high,FoxP3+ T cells were observed in pts with SLE and normal donors
Proliferation of SLE nTreg cells sorted into the subset CD4+,CD25high,CD127-/low was decreased vs SLE nTreg cells sorted into the subset CD4+,CD25high
While in normal donors, these values were 802 ± 177 cpm and 2,028 ± 548 cpm, respectively, confirming that effector cell contamination was reduced
Suppressive activity of nTreg cells was intact in all groups
CD4+,CD25- Tresp cells isolated from pts with active SLE were less sensitive vs pts with inactive SLE to the suppressive function of autologous or normal donor CD4+,CD25high,CD127-/low nTreg cells
An inverse correlation between the extent of T cell regulation in suppressor assays and the level of lupus disease activity
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